A good coach knows a timeout can be an important asset, a chance to talk to his players and calm them down if things aren’t going his or her way.

Roncalli’s Joe Rux, his team trailing Denmark 8-4 with 4:01 left in the first quarter, picked a perfect time.

The No. 2 seeded Jets (20-4) came out of the break energized to close the quarter on a 10-0 run and a 14-8 advantage. In fact, the No. 6 Vikings (9-15) wouldn’t score again until the 5:17 mark in the second quarter.

The rest of the half, and game, belonged to host Roncalli which won the WIAA Division 3 boys basketball regional semifinal on Friday 61-41 to set up a meeting Saturday night with No. 4 Wrightstown (14-10) at the Jet Hangar.

Rux knew his players needed to relax early on which is why he called the early timeout.

“We just told them they had to close out on the people we had on our scouting reports as shooters,” Rux said of his instructions. “They had to hang in their, keep running our offense. It’s going to be a grind in the playoffs. Can’t get concerned about the score.”

Jets’ senior forward Logan Theisen said the pep talk was exactly what him and his teammates needed after Denmark hit a pair of 3-pointers.

“(Rux) said we had to stick to our business and stop their tendencies,” Theisen said. “He said we had to box out because they were killing us on 3’s. He was just helping us out.”

Denmark coach Cody Stelmach felt his players answered the call early but were unable to contain Theisen.

“We talked about how the start of the game was going to be the most important part,” Stelmach said. “They try to come out hard and we had to weather the storm and we’d be ok. We weathered it early but Rux called that timeout and physically we weren’t ready.

“(Theisen) is a talented player. Has good feet around the basket, can play through contact. He’s tough to stop.”

Theisen was a force inside, helping limit the Vikings to only six shots inside the arc. Roncalli, from the time of Rux’s timeout, went on a 28-10 run to end the half to take a 32-18 lead the Jets wouldn’t come close to relinquishing the rest of the way.

The senior controlled the paint all game racking up a game-high 28 points while going 11-of-12 from the free-throw line including a perfect 10-for-10 in the fourth quarter.

“That’s been our Achilles heel,” Stelmach said of opposing teams playing tough inside. “We’re a small team, our tallest kid is 6-2. We knew (Theisen) was going to give us problems.“

Rux knew if his guys could keep Denmark out of the paint, they’d have a great chance to move on.

“Early in the game, stopping their penetration was key,” Rux said. “Our goal from the beginning was to take away what they do on the bounce and close out on their shooters. In the third quarter they got us a bit but we definitely had to shore up the lanes.”

The Vikings kept it close in the third quarter behind three 3-pointers but still trailed by 15 entering the final stanza 45-30.

The rest of the contest became a free throw shooting contest with Theisen icing the game and setting up a third meeting between Roncalli and Wrightstown this season. The Jets won both matchups.

Theisen is already excited for the contest.

“I can’t wait,“ Theisen said. “Playing Wrightstown for a third time, it’ll be fun.“

Rux is ready to demonstrate the Olympian Conference is full of quality teams with Roncalli, Wrightstown and Valders all advancing in the D3 playoffs Friday night.

“It’ll be fun, taking on a conference opponent," Rux said. “Not many people thought our conference was as strong as it was last year so it’s nice to see the OC advancing.“